Two West Point cadets are caught up in the historical events of the most significant era in United States history when the nation was torn apart by a Civil War. Lucius Rumble and Elijah Cord encounter war, political intrigue, personal tragedies and more while encountering historical figures such as Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, Abraham Lincoln, Kit Carson and more.The story begins at West Point in 1840 where Rumble and Cord clash over tavern owner Benny Haven's daughter. The decision they make that day reverberates with them as the story ranges from West Point; to a plantation in Natchez, the richest city in the United States where cotton was king; to the only mutiny in the United States Navy; to St. Louis where Kit Carson is preparing to depart on a famous expedition to the west with Fremont that would eventually bring California into the Union; to Mexico, where the United States Army suffered its highest casualty rate to this day and brought most of the western United States into the Union; to the founding of the Naval Academy; to John Brown's hanging; to the firing on Fort Sumter; through First Bull Run; the first battle of ironclads, the Monitor and Virginia; and culminating in the epic battle of Shiloh, where the United States had more casualties in one battle than in all previous wars combined and the face of warfare changed forever.The key to this series is a simple fact I had to memorize as a plebe at West Point: Who commanded the major battles of the Civil War? -- There were 60 important battles of the War. In 55 of them, graduates commanded on both sides.Assembly Magazine (Association of Graduates, West Point): "Bob Mayer has stretched the limits of the military action novel. Mayer brings an accurate depiction of military life to this book which greatly enhances its credibility."Praise for Mayer's war fiction: Stephen Coonts: "A scorcher of a novel "WEB Griffin: "Exciting & Authentic "